Hi Tweety,
Whats the status with the builder?
Has worked stopped, builder communicating with you about it
thanks
Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 42Aug 23, 2019 8:10 pm Mirrmu83 Hi Tweety, Whats the status with the builder? Has worked stopped, builder communicating with you about it thanks The brick layers have left the site after completed the work. The builder is not willing to take any feedback until he has checked work himself even though he went onsite almost every second or third day during the 3 weeks of brickwork. I don't understand why quality check was not done then. I'm going to give him a fair chance to do his own quality assurance, but I'm definitely going to have my own building inspector to inspect the work afterwards and write a formal report on the brickwork. Based on my own observations, numerous joints are exceeding the structural tolerance level in the Building Code. Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 43Aug 23, 2019 8:11 pm Mirrmu83 Whats the status with the builder? Probably still getting over his hurt feelings. tweety123 When I raised them to my builder, he advised that some of the voids and holes will be patched up but not all. And he doesn't plan to do anything else to other problems as he insisted that the work is above average quality for rendered brick walls. He was offended by my negative feedback on the quality of his work. Maybe send him a Hurt Feelings Report. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 44Aug 23, 2019 8:15 pm SaveH2O Mirrmu83 Whats the status with the builder? Probably still getting over his hurt feelings. tweety123 When I raised them to my builder, he advised that some of the voids and holes will be patched up but not all. And he doesn't plan to do anything else to other problems as he insisted that the work is above average quality for rendered brick walls. He was offended by my negative feedback on the quality of his work. Maybe send him a Hurt Feelings Report. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Haha. Thanks for that. I think I need to get my builder to fill this up. Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 45Aug 23, 2019 8:17 pm Sometimes all you can do is laugh. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 46Aug 23, 2019 8:21 pm [quote="gillybean"]Exterior brickwork - muntered. Disgraceful by the builder, f..k this makes me angry. Cover up with render to cover up a scam /quote] This has given me lots of stress in the last few days. I've now decided to calm down and leave it to professionals' hand. Let my building inspector to point it out to my builder so he can't just brush it off like he did to me. Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 49Sep 06, 2019 7:02 pm Hello everyone. Thank you for all the advice. I just had the building inspection done. The building report raised more than 10 defects. Feedback from the building inspector is that the workmanship is "just minimum standard". Once the defects are fixed it'll bring the brickwork compliant to Building Code. A big relief from the report is that there are no major defects impacting the structural integrity of the walls. A few examples of the defects are: * mortar in every cavity are not cleaned. Given it's double brick walls, the moisture will build up in cavities and won't be able to get out from the weep holes. * some walls are not straight. Plaster will also have to place furring channels or add additional packing for some walls to keep them straight; * lots of excessive mortar on the walls. This means my my builder will have to get them cleaned up before plastering; * re-point some bricks as they are loose, fell off when the building inspector did a light kick * no mortar in between a few bricks for one of the walls so water can leak into my house. My building inspector told me that a good bricklayer should have kept every 5th bricks loose, clean the cavities at the end of the job then place these bricks back. My bricklayer obviously didn't do this. If I don't want to delay the building process, can I have the roof frame on first then get the bricklayer to come back and take out every 5th brick to clean the cavities? Anything that I should watch out for? The bricklayer still hasn't come back to fix the defects after over a week so not sure how long I have to wait. Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 50Sep 07, 2019 10:37 am Hi, To clean the mortar which has accumulated on wall ties or excess buildup on the wall in the cavity the bricklayer would have to "rod" all the mortar snots off from the top, then remove bricks at base and clean out base of cavity of all mortar debris. So access to cavity required. If just base of cavity needing clean then the roof could go on. Has your builder addressed these defects with yourself and put forward a documented resolution process? I wouldn't get roof put on until defects fixed. Every chance the bricklayer may not return to undertake the work. To try and find another bricklayer to undertake the repairs could be extremely difficult and costly. The builder may offer a discount or upgrade to try and mitigate the poor brickwork. thnks Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 51Sep 07, 2019 4:50 pm Mirrmu83 Hi, To clean the mortar which has accumulated on wall ties or excess buildup on the wall in the cavity the bricklayer would have to "rod" all the mortar snots off from the top, then remove bricks at base and clean out base of cavity of all mortar debris. So access to cavity required. If just base of cavity needing clean then the roof could go on. Has your builder addressed these defects with yourself and put forward a documented resolution process? I wouldn't get roof put on until defects fixed. Every chance the bricklayer may not return to undertake the work. To try and find another bricklayer to undertake the repairs could be extremely difficult and costly. The builder may offer a discount or upgrade to try and mitigate the poor brickwork. thnks Thank you for the response. It may take a while for the current bricklayer to come back as he seems to have other jobs lined up. Given the quality and workmanship I have observed so far, I have very little confidence in him cleaning the cavities properly. The cavities for the double brick walls above the windows will also need to be cleaned. Does this mean it's more costly to clean it after the roof frame is up? Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 52Sep 07, 2019 8:34 pm If its just the base of the cavity ie. where the bricks sit on the concrete slab/footings that needs cleaning then roof wont be an issue. If need to send something down cavity then the roof may interfere with that, therefore roof cant go on. The company I worked for we had a mature guy who completed tasks like sills, bricking up doors, air con holes and errors made by other bricklayers that were employed. Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 54Mar 02, 2022 3:57 pm Each state nominates 20mm as maximum size tweety123 Hi fellow home owners and builders, will appreciate your feedback on the brickwork on my house. I'm building a be-spoken house in Sydney. My builder won a couple building awards in the past hence charges high price. The exterior walls of my house is double brick with cavity walls and will be rendered. Interior walls are single brick and will have gyprock sticking to it directly. I recently checked out the brickwork and thought the workmanship is very poor. A few walls are not straight where bricks are not aligned. Mortars in bed joints and head joints are inconsistent and many exceed tolerance level (bed joint: 7-13mm; head joint: 5-15mm) in the Building Code. Lots of voids and holes in mortar in the internal walls. These problems appear to 2/3 of the brickwork. When I raised them to my builder, he advised that some of the voids and holes will be patched up but not all. And he doesn't plan to do anything else to other problems as he insisted that the work is above average quality for rendered brick walls. He was offended by my negative feedback on the quality of his work. Based on the payment schedule for the brickwork, I think I'm paying around $2/brick on the labour costs. This is excluding the brick costs and my builder's margin (well above 15%). Even building in Sydney is expensive, my understanding is at this price, the quality of the brickwork should be above average. Attached are some pictures that I took onsite. Will appreciate your honest opinion on the quality of the work vs the price I'm paying. Based on my observation, a few project homes in my area have better brickwork than mine even though the price is less than half per sqm than what I'm paying. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ *All in my opinion only Re: Appreciate your comments on the quality of this brickwor 55Mar 02, 2022 8:33 pm Trying to compare brick pricing at a unit rate is fraught with problems. There are numerous variables at play. A builder charges you a nominal rate, then pays the bricklayer an actual rate. Many builders will show you a nominal rate as the rate the builder is paying the bricklayers but the reality is, the bricklayer rate is often much lower, in some cases, half of the nominal rate. This is the hidden builder profit, a great deception on the customer. Not that you should expect less, but an inspector might make you feel better for a considerable sum. As the brick is rendered, it will be no problem. The main concern is that brickwork is straight. Do consider bricks being rendered are much lower grade in sizing. It is too often the inexperienced eye focuses on matters at eye level when the majority of problems pertain to the compaction of foundations and footings. I hope you achieved the outcome you desire. Best Regards, Callow tweety123 Hi fellow home owners and builders, will appreciate your feedback on the brickwork on my house. I'm building a be-spoken house in Sydney. My builder won a couple building awards in the past hence charges high price. The exterior walls of my house is double brick with cavity walls and will be rendered. Interior walls are single brick and will have gyprock sticking to it directly. I recently checked out the brickwork and thought the workmanship is very poor. A few walls are not straight where bricks are not aligned. Mortars in bed joints and head joints are inconsistent and many exceed tolerance level (bed joint: 7-13mm; head joint: 5-15mm) in the Building Code. Lots of voids and holes in mortar in the internal walls. These problems appear to 2/3 of the brickwork. When I raised them to my builder, he advised that some of the voids and holes will be patched up but not all. And he doesn't plan to do anything else to other problems as he insisted that the work is above average quality for rendered brick walls. He was offended by my negative feedback on the quality of his work. Based on the payment schedule for the brickwork, I think I'm paying around $2/brick on the labour costs. This is excluding the brick costs and my builder's margin (well above 15%). Even building in Sydney is expensive, my understanding is at this price, the quality of the brickwork should be above average. Attached are some pictures that I took onsite. Will appreciate your honest opinion on the quality of the work vs the price I'm paying. Based on my observation, a few project homes in my area have better brickwork than mine even though the price is less than half per sqm than what I'm paying. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ *All in my opinion only I am in the same situation, would you be able to give some insights in to this? I am in SA 8 17010 I wanted to get some thoughts on the quality of workmanship on the following brickwork? are there specific clauses in Australian Standards which relate… 0 4794 |